Life After Death

Who killed Biggie Smalls? As Chris Vogel reported in our March 23 cover story, "Justice for Biggie," Smalls' mother, Voletta Wallace, has become increasingly convinced that retired Los Angeles Police Detective Greg Kading has it right — that former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight is behind the hit, and that a dirty cop was likely not involved after all.

"How about the record companies?" writes Will Raye. "It really seems like every time a black comet comes along, the record companies have a problem with them. Michael Jackson outed them. And this death rings of that kind of suspicion, too. It's quite notable that record companies make a killing selling an artist's music after the artist dies — from Aaliyah on."

Julie Asperger writes, "I doubt we will ever know who killed Biggie. For all we know, whoever killed him was murdered years ago by whoever ordered the hit, to keep them silent."

"None of the theories will ever get a judgment in any court room," Angelsaint agrees. "All the parties involved know that. And Greg Kading sounds very unprofessional. So many weird things in his interviews, including baseless 'facts' and childish disses to Suge Knight. Maybe he should start rapping and write diss songs?"

Coldcase187 responds: "I know Greg Kading personally, and your assessment that he is 'very unprofessional' is far from the truth. Kading was an outstanding detective and the one I'd want to handle the case if something ever happened to me or one of my family members. You see, he understands that a detective's role is to uncover the truth, and that when a detective takes on the responsibility of an investigation they see it through to the end. There's a saying among dedicated homicide detectives, 'Everyone counts or nobody counts.' Kading lives by this code, and I'm proud to call him my friend."

Cop Out

On the subject of cops behaving badly, readers were riveted by Paul Teetor's story about Brian Hitchcock, a driver who was rear-ended by a Hermosa Beach motorcycle cop ("Motorist's Crash Nightmare Ends," March 23).

"I really hope Mr. Hitchcock goes through with his lawsuit against the city," writes Rick1v. "Not only does [Officer Anthony] Parente need to be exposed, but it sounds like he was protected by his superiors and the Redondo city attorney. Sounds like a house-cleaning is in order."

Writes Beaten, "Gee, another black eye for the Hermosa Beach Police Department. How many incidents have their officers been involved in now? I've lost count. The DOJ or the FBI should investigate the whole department and these false statements."

Ec defends the police: "One bad apple should not ruin the whole tree. Most cops and soldiers are good people." But Joe isn't buying it. "There's a lot more than one bad apple here," he writes. "Lawyers and other cops are conspiring to protect this guy at the expense of his victims. Only when they realized they would humiliate themselves in court did they finally give up. At least gangsters are honest about protecting their own. These guys are worse, and we're paying their salaries to do it."

Poe Poe has a different take. After all, he asserts, 166 police officers were killed while on duty in 2011.

"It's funny how a left-sided paper like the L.A. Weekly would only report on the negative, never anything positive. But then again, it wouldn't make any money, huh? What about all the men and women who lost their lives, left their children, husband/wife behind. They did that for YOU! Think about that next time you pick up the phone to call 911, jackass!!! There is more of the story than what we are told. Frickin' libs, you guys crack me up." Oh, Poe Poe, you crack us up, too!

Dan El is less amused. "I get so sick of cop shit: 'WE PUT OUR LIVES ON THE LINE! THEREFORE RULES DON'T APPLY TO US!' Yeah, about that: 166 deaths across the U.S. is not a particularly dangerous occupation. Commercial fishing is a far more dangerous job, but I don't see anybody arguing commercial fishermen should be free to do whatever they want.

"And guess what: Plenty of people put their lives on the line. Roofers, commercial pilots, ambulance drivers, soldiers, sailors, electricians, linemen, road crews — all of them put their lives at risk every day. But for some reason, only cops are allowed to be assholes about it. The rest of us slaves have to obey the rules, unlike our masters in blue."

Rock & Roll

In response to last week's arts feature, "Rock On," Stephen J. Cohen writes, "Catherine Wagley had a fantastic piece on moving a rock for art's sake. She was inaccurate, however, on the placement of the Thunder Stone in St. Petersburg. It was pulled by 400 men for nine months. It arrived Sept. 26, 1770. It is a common error, since Pushkin's poem, 'The Bronze Horseman,' came out in 1833. Still, a beautiful example of insightful writing on art, meaning and rocks."

Corrections

We accidentally provided erroneous location information for a restaurant praised in last week's Eats section. The Park's Finest BBQ is located at 1267 W. Temple St.; its phone number is (213) 247-4909.

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